Thanks to Microsoft, we’ve been going through the motions of designing, ordering, and now receiving one of the new Xbox One custom controllers from Xbox Design Lab. We told you about the design process earlier, and yesterday our controller arrived via FedEx. Not being a professional unboxer, you’ll have to excuse this first time attempt, but here’s a quick look:
Since you can’t really see the custom engraving in the video, here’s a close-up:
All in all, the whole process was very easy. Too be honest, when I first “designed” the controller, I thought it might be too gaudy, but now that it’s here, I’m kind of coming to like it quite a bit. In fact, my generic Xbox One wireless controller looks a bit sad next to it:
In the video, I mention that there a few new things about the controller, and Polygon dove in and compared the original Xbox One controller to this new one:
The new Xbox One controller looks very much like the original Xbox One controller initially. It feels very familiar as well, with one major exception. Where the grips of the original controller are smooth, the new controller has a subtle pattern to its horns. The grip is not nearly as noticeable as the rubberized, patterned grip found on the Elite, but it’s a nice touch that seemed to help…
Polygon goes on to point out that the thumbsticks and directional pad have received noticeable, if slight improvements, too. It is worth remembering, though, that this is an Xbox One controller, and will work with all of your current Xbox One accessories, as well as continuing to work on the Xbox One S and even on Project Scorpio.
I haven’t given the new custom controller a good testing, and that’s partly because it’s not really mine, it’s yours. Well, it could be, anyway, as we’re giving our Microsoft-themed, OnMSFT.com engraved custom controller away. Stay tuned to WinBeta for details on our contest (and oh, by the way, that’s not all we’ll be giving away as part of our rebranding to OnMSFT.com!), and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for all the latest on Microsoft, Xbox, Windows 10 and more.
